Photo of Ben Sosa-Wright with Ben Goodman (right, CJSW).

Ben Sosa-Wright performed during Sled Island’s Comedy nights at Vern’s on Friday, June 19th & Saturday, June 20th.

Interview Audio:

Interview Transcript:

Ben Goodman
Thank you so much for coming here, from Ben to Ben.

Ben Sosa-Wright
Do you go by Ben or Benjamin?

Ben Goodman
I was born as Benjamin, but typically Ben.

Ben Sosa-Wright
In your email it Benjamin.

Ben Goodman
Yeah, because it’s Mount Royal, that’s my university,

Ben Goodman
I can’t change that. If someone says Benjamin, I’m not mad at it.

Ben Sosa-Wright
Yes, you know, I’m not a Benjamin, technically.

Ben Goodman
Oh no.

Ben Sosa-Wright
Benjamin Eduardo, that’s my full legal name.

Ben Goodman
Your set last night was outstanding . Your crowd work some of the best I’ve seen. The way you spotted certain things from throughout the night.

Ben Sosa-Wright
Thank you.

Ben Goodman
There’s the table of women who are by my side, who are just so supportive.

Ben Sosa-Wright
They had a great vibe.

Ben Goodman
And then MUBI bag gu, who I spotted him leave with that bright blue bag bright blue.

Ben Sosa-Wright
Bright blue! I sa him out of my periphery, because I was in the green room area, and I wanted to grab him and be like “no, sweetie, you’re gonna want to stay for me.” I saw his MUBI bag, I saw his twink frame, I was like, “i’m for you, I’m for you, just stick around.” If he had known i’m sure he would have stayed.

Ben Goodman
How’s your time at Sled been so far?

Ben Sosa-Wright
Oh, dude, so fun. It’s such a cool festival. I, it feels crazy i’m getting paid to do comedy here, because I get to see free music. Like I saw Black Country, New Road last night.

Ben Goodman
How was that?

Ben Sosa-Wright
It was sick as hell. One of my favorite bands.

Ben Sosa-Wright
It surpassed my expectations of how they perform live.

Ben Goodman
I saw clips from that show, it looked amazing,

Ben Sosa-Wright
Amazing! They just work so well together. They all got recorders out at one point, beautiful.

Ben Goodman
Shout out to recorders in elementary school.

Ben Sosa-Wright
I owe Mrs. Gurney a big apology, because I thought she was nuts as hell for teaching us that. I’ll say it – that BS.

Ben Goodman
Yeah, “Hot Cross Buns.” I want to do something better!

Ben Sosa-Wright
Hot Cross Buns! Black Country, New Road. There’s a cover! You’re leaving money on the table. Do “Hot Cross Buns”!

Ben Goodman
It’s public domain too, like “Old MacDonald”

Ben Sosa-Wright
“Old MacDonald,” “Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star.”

Ben Goodman
“Wheels On The Bus.”

Ben Sosa-Wright
“Wheels On The Bus,” we’re naming all the hits.

Ben Goodman
“Camptown Races”

Ben Sosa-Wright
Camptown Races! Sing that song!

Ben Goodman
Doo da Doo da!

Ben Sosa-Wright
Doo da doo da! Now i’m a musician too. It was beautiful.

Ben Goodman
We don’t have to pay for that. We don’t have pay ASCAP. What was your gateway to comedy?

Ben Sosa-Wright
Oh God, yeah. I was a big improv kid.

Ben Sosa-Wright
I still am in many ways. I grew up in Toronto, so Second City’s there, and I did a bunch of Second City classes as a kid and got the bug. Now I teach there. It’s an MLM. They run an MLM, and I climb the ranks. I’m on the top tier now. It’s Scientology. I’ll say it. I’m not afraid to say it, but that was that was my gateway, and it’s really like painted how I perform stand-up as well. Like, I try to approach stand-up with an improv sensibility, I try to listen to the audience, not at the risk of sounding corny as hell, I want to “Yes, And” the vibe in the crowd

Ben Goodman
I witnessed that last night. I totally see that.

Ben Sosa-Wright
Okay, cool. I’m glad it rings true. I don’t just seem like an insane person up there.

Ben Goodman
What inspired young Ben to get into comedy? Like, was there like any people that got you into it?

Ben Sosa-Wright
I guess a big comedic influences as a little boy had to be some of the women of SNL that I grew up with, like your Maya Rudolph’s or Kristen Wiig’s

Ben Goodman
All killers.

Ben Sosa-Wright
That just blew my mind, and like I wanted to do that. For stand-up, like, because I started doing stand-up when I was like, 20 or 19, and it was comedians like Julio Torres.

Ben Goodman
I am such a fan

Ben Sosa-Wright
Huge. I saw his, maybe his first late-night set on Jimmy Fallon.

Ben Goodman
That’s right, and he was probably still a SNL writer at the time.

Ben Sosa-Wright
He was!

Ben Goodman
Wells for Boys

Ben Goodman
and the Lin Manuel-Miranda one he did.

Ben Sosa-Wright
Also the Papyrus font one, and his sensibility on stage.

Ben Goodman
Los Espookys! Not to do his credits.

Ben Goodman
Los Espookys is one of the best two season shows ever.

Ben Sosa-Wright
Perfect! Did yo see his movie? Have you seen Problemista?

Ben Goodman
Yeah!! I am a Tilda fan, but top Tilda.

Ben Sosa-Wright
TOP TILDA. Tilda. My top Tilda, to be sure. Seeing him and Kate Berlant, big influence, John Early, same

Ben Goodman
Very excited for ‘Maddie’s Secret’

Ben Sosa-Wright
Oh, dude! I saw it at TIFF. It is easily one of the funniest movies I’ve seen, but it’s also profoundly touching.

Ben Goodman
Weren’t like TV Movies of the Week kind of the inspiration?

Ben Sosa-Wright
Yeah, it’s almost like a Lifetime spoof of that kind of genre and harkening back to big broad kind of campy movies like Show Girls and stuff like that, and his performance is very like raw and touching, like he’s not just in drag for being in drag’s sake, like “look at me! I’m playing a woman!” He’s playing a grounded character.

Ben Goodman
It’s like Louie Anderson on ‘Baskets’

Ben Sosa-Wright
Yes, exactly!!! I think, especially Julio Torres and John Early showed me, not to get into my identity or whatever, but I didn’t really see a lot of gay stand-ups growing up. Stand-up just seemed like, oh yeah, you’re a straight guy, you’re talking about your wife and your kids, that’s what stand-up is. They just broadened my horizons and I was like, oh you can be a gay alt-comedy guy and do stand up and be weird, and people might like it.

Ben Goodman
So like you said, you started improvising, then you did stand-up? I just want to to make sure I get the track of it right

Ben Sosa-Wright
I still do a lot of improv, like I just got off main stage, I was a main stage Second City guy for a while and it’s hard to pay the bills. I always say one of my worst traits as an improviser are prevalent in my standup, and then my worst traits as a stand-up are prevalent in my improv. Like in improv, I’m just shoehorning jokes, and then my stand-up set is far too loose, like, I really should be more focused.

Ben Goodman
Who are smaller kind of favorite comedians on the scene? The Toronto scene’s incredible..

Ben Sosa-Wright
I mean, you’re wearing a Big Three shirt right now. My buddies, Ben Stager, Sam Burns, Nathan Hare, they’re hilarious. Ben Steger and I, we used to actually have a show together at Comedy Bar in Toronto called Night of 1000 Bens, and it would be different each time. Like one show was a talent show, oneshow was a slide show where we were talking about our favorite Ben’s in the culture, but those guys are my favorite. Jordanne Brown is a very funny comedian. Tiyawnda, a very funny comedian in Toronto, she’s like a solo sketch performer.

Ben Sosa-Wright
She’s great. I got to shout out Brandon Ash-Mohammed as well. He’s one of my mentors back home, Chris Locke, as well.

Ben Goodman
Chris Locke is like an institution.

Ben Sosa-Wright
He is. If you’re like an alt guy in Toronto, Chris Locke is your guy and he’s just so nice and funny. Yeah, but the scene in comedy is so big, i’m forgetting so many people. They’re all great.

Ben Goodman
The cream of the crop! Support them.

Ben Sosa-Wright
Support them, please.

Ben Goodman
What makes this Sled Island bill so great is it’s nothing but exciting Canadian comics. Being at the show last night was so fun. What kind of inspires you about being like in the Canadian comedy scene?

Ben Sosa-Wright
I think in the Canadian comedy scene there’s no infrastructure to support us long term financially, so to be a comedian who’s still at it, you have to be working at it until you have to be on top of your game, like there’s no way to kind of rest on your laurels or phone it in, like, you could be, like a Chris Locke, for instance, top of your game, but, you’re still grinding , you’re still doing shows because you have to. I think that’s what makes it so interesting, is we’re all still hungry for it. I think Todd Graham, a comedian, who said if you’re an up and coming comedian in Canada, that just means you’re not dead yet, like you’re always gonna be up and coming and it sucks. There should be panel shows, like CBC and Crave should be throwing us on TV more. We have the best comedy scene in the world, I think

Ben Goodman
I know you have passion for pop stars.

Ben Goodman
I’m a die hard pop person too. I was a member of a TRL message board in the early 2000s.

Ben Goodman
I got a couple CDs here.

Ben Sosa-Wright
Stop it! Ashlee Simpson!!

Ben Goodman
This is not to toot my whatever

Ben Goodman
but two years ago on this very station, where we play cool independent music. I was like, it’s the 20th anniversary of Ashlee Simpson’s Autobiography, we gotta do a tribute show. So we talked for two hours about it.

Ben Sosa-Wright
You can’t see but my jaw is on the floor

Ben Goodman
I also have this Michelle Branch..

Ben Sosa-Wright
Oh my gosh, yes! Michelle Branch, that’s a deep pull

Ben Goodman
The Spirit Room and I also love her second album, Hotel Paper.

Ben Sosa-Wright
They also don’t make album artwork like that anymore.

Ben Goodman
No.

Ben Sosa-Wright
Give me a woman looking forlorn on a highway, give me that!

Ben Sosa-Wright
The fonts are incredible. I mean, we did such a disservice to Ashlee Simpson as a society, like we really.. she made one mistake, we jumped down her throat, like we really.. we owe her a big apology.

Ben Goodman
I’m glad she’s on this upswing, even though she won The Masked Singer this year.

Ben Sosa-Wright
What??

Ben Goodman
Yeah!

Ben Sosa-Wright
Oh, this is breaking news for me.

Ben Goodman
It’s worth watching, whatever you think of the show. She won it, but, it was so telegraphed that even Jessica was there, and it was so wonderful for her.

Ben Sosa-Wright
That’s beautiful

Ben Goodman
She’s doing more shows, bit by bit.,

Ben Sosa-Wright
The Masked Singer is kind of where careers go to, I guess, if your career dies, you got a resurgence, because, Normani won and that blew my mind, because she was supposed to be the big thing to come from Fifth Harmony, yeah, like “Motivation.” Remember that single?

Ben Goodman
She put out all of these singles and they bricked, sadly.

Ben Sosa-Wright
Yes, I think her label, screwed her up

Ben Sosa-Wright
She’s such a star and I was at my parents’ place, and they threw on The Masked Singer, and the judges were doing that thing where they.. it’s like, obviously, with all due respect to Normani, it’s kind of a B-tier pop star is gonna win it, but they’re saying, like, oh, is it Beyonce?? They’re throwing out those guesses, like, oh, Michelle Obama?? you know what I mean? The producers are there like “name an A-Lister” and I was like I think it’s Normani, based off the clues, because girl group, I think they had like a hard hat as a clue, and I was like, okay, like it’s Fifth Harmony, and I didn’t want it to be true, because I think Normani deserves so much better, Normani is being treated like a Canadian comedian in Canada.

Ben Sosa-Wright
We gotta lift her up!

Ben Sosa-Wright
We’re all a bunch of Normani’s here

Ben Goodman
Are some other pop stars you want to shout out? With Ashlee briefly,, just want to mention, I have to mention it all the time, Diana Ross is her mother-in-law.

Ben Sosa-Wright
That is true! I forget this.

Ben Sosa-Wright
My old Nostalgique co-host, Aba Amuquandoh, she was the one who broke that for me.

Ben Goodman
I want to talk about those Thanksgiving dinners. The Simpsons and The Rosses

Ben Goodman
Tracee Ellis Ross is there.

Ben Sosa-Wright
Yeah, she’s there. They’re chopping, and that must be a fun table. But Popstars, I mean, Beyonce, B’Day, I mean, from that era, huge Shakira.

Ben Sosa-Wright
Frou Frou! “Let Go.” I mean, a huge, huge song. Carly Rae Jepsen, big Canadian icon, she’s big for me, I’d say. Yeah, huge.

Ben Goodman
Great albums!

Ben Sosa-Wright
Great albums! She’s another one where we owe her a bit more respect, she’s bringing back disco, she’s incorporating disco, and people don’t like that. She’s so great. I mean, “Run Away With Me” is one of the greatest pop singles of all time, I’d say.

Ben Goodman
She has such taste, like working with Dev Hynes.

Ben Sosa-Wright
She does have good taste!

Ben Goodman
I found your Letterboxd.

Ben Sosa-Wright
Stop it, give me your hands. This is huge. This is huge.

Ben Goodman
I saw Happy-Go-Lucky in your four. I’m a big Mike Leigh fanatic.

Ben Sosa-Wright
Happy-Go-Lucky is one of my favorite moves of all time. I used to work in childcare for years and years, that was my day job, and I feel like that movie – I might have said this in my review – actually perfectly encapsulates the kind of empathy you build over years of childcare work, and this sounds corny, but working with children made me a better comedian, I’m more patient, I see audience members as just little children, like, everyone’s just trying to survive their childhood, still. I see grown men as little boys.

Ben Goodman
What are some other favorite movies? We could do all time, recent, whatever.

Ben Sosa-Wright
Oh my goodness, one of my favorite movies of all time is this film. It’s in my Letterboxx four right now. It’s called An Elephant Sitting Still. , Oh, it’s great. It’s by Hu Bo, this Chinese filmmaker, and tragically, he actually took his own life before the movie was released.

Ben Sosa-Wright
And you watch the movie knowing that, and it adds this layer of sadness to it. It’s four hours long. It’s the saddest movie you’ll ever see. Yeah carve out the afternoon

Ben Goodman
For watching and crying.

Ben Sosa-Wright
Watching and crying, carve out the day. Book a therapy session before or after. You want to enter the movie with in a place of clarity. Yeah, but it’s beautiful. It’s about all these characters trying to go to this city in China called Manzhouli, which exists at the nexus of Russia, Mongolia, and China, and it’s like the Niagara Falls of northern China, and I’m a big geography guy, so I love that the city’s at the border of three countries, and they all want to get there for different reasons, and then their POVs collide. It’s very beautiful.

Ben Goodman
I need to check this out.

Ben Goodman
A gorgeous score they made, a beautiful score they made.

Ben Sosa-Wright
One of my favorite comedies of all time, Smiley Face by Gregg Araki.

Ben Goodman
He has a new movie coming out soon!

Ben Goodman
Yes, with Charli XCX, I think.

Ben Goodman
I love Smiley Face

Ben Sosa-Wright
A great stoner comedy.

Ben Goodman
A great Anna Faris performance

Ben Goodman
also Observe and Report, for underrated Anna Faris performances

Ben Sosa-Wright
Oh my, what’s that one again?

Ben Goodman
It was the other mall cop movie, that came out out at the same time as Paul Blart, but it was Taxi Driver, King of Comedy, 10 years before Joker was trying to rip it off, except Observe and Report was more sincere, but it’s funny but dark. It’s outstanding.

Ben Goodman
Anna Faris is incredible in it, like a mall kisok makeup person.

Ben Goodman
I feel like I might have seen it.

Ben Goodman
Anything else you want to tease for 2026?

Ben Sosa-Wright
Yes, I have my debut stand-up special dropping soon this summer

Ben Goodman
What a thing to tease!

Ben Sosa-Wright
If you like improvised stand-up, it’s like 70% riffing, 30% material. We shot it in a thrift store. I’m really excited. It looks good. It’s funny.

Ben Goodman
Very stoked to see the special!

Ben Sosa-Wright
Yes, stay tuned for that. It’ll be on YouTube for the world to see. Free, i’m a man for the people.

Ben Goodman
You are a man for the people!

Ben Goodman
I hope you enjoy the rest of your Sled, you got another show tonight.

Ben Sosa-Wright
At Vern’s! Which I learned. Not a real guy.

Ben Sosa-Wright
Ben to Ben.

Ben Goodman
We did it. We did it. Awesome.